Oh the places you'll go!

HAPPY BELATED HALLOWEEN everyone! My mom sent me some candy corn in the mail, so I’m keeping the Halloween spirit alive over here in Europe. I was under the impression that no one likes Halloween here, but have been surprised to find that it has grown in popularity over the past few years! I have seen so many students dressing up to go out at night.

I reeeealllyyyy miss caramel apples!! In France they have apples covered in chocolate, or candy. The candy ones are called "pomme d'amour", which translates to apple of love. I bought one to give it a try, but the candy was so hard, it took forever to get to the apple. After about five minutes I gave up. Sadly, I didn't even get to the apple, which is my favorite part.

In other news…

I have been doing a lot of traveling lately!

Since I don’t have classes on Wednesdays or Thursdays, I decided to take a little trip to Switzerland this week. I have always wanted to go to Switzerland, so I absolutely loved it! In Switzerland they have a French speaking region, a German speaking region, an Italian speaking region, and a region where they speak a mix of the languages. I was in Geneva and Lausanne, which are both French speaking regions.
The people were so friendly in Switzerland, and I spoke French the whole time I was there. I fear that I would have been a little lost had I not been able to speak French. It’s really a plus to speak the native language of where you are traveling. In Geneva I went to see the flower clock (a huge clock made of flowers), the extremely powerful water jet, and some museums. I toured the United Nations, and it was a really neat experience. There is one room that has artwork and each month a different country gets to choose what artwork goes in the room. Also, in the various different meeting rooms, there is a lot of different artwork and unique styles. Sidenote…has anyone seen the Interpreter?? Well, I felt like I was in that movie when we were in the UN conference room. It was amazing!

Flower Clock in Geneva!

Yeahhh, I was a little worried when I saw this.

At the entrance to the United Nations there were flags from all different countries!

Pristine garden inside the United Nations.

Sweet UN clock

Red Cross Museum

Founder of the Red Cross

Beautiful view of the mountains in Lausanne

Hi! "I can't believe I'm in Switzerland!!"

Giant foot sculpture in gardens in front of Olympic Museum

Olympic Torch

I loved this fountain.

Entrance to gift shop at Olympic Museum

Olympic Torches!

Hockey Jerseys, Skating costumes

Famous jet of water in Geneva. I was there when they first turned it on in the morning!

Giant Chess set in Geneva

"Here is a garbage can."

After the United Nations tour I went to the Red Cross Museum. Then I hopped on a train to Lausanne where they have the Museum for the Olympic Games. It was SO cool. There was lots of footage from past Olympic Games, as well as ice skating costmes and other objects. One of the coolest exhibits was a display of all of the different torches used in the past Olympic games. If you are ever in Switzerland and are a sports fan, I definitely recommend the Olympic Games Museum! At the bottom of the hill of the museum is a lake with a stellar view of the mountains. It was so picturesque, and caught me by surprise since I wasn’t expecting it.


This past weekend I went to London to visit a friend from my high school named Kara.

I absolutely LOVED London. It is a little more suburban than I expected, but the atmosphere is fantastic. If I didn’t want to learn the French language, I would definitely study abroad in London. We packed in SO much sightseeing in only a few days. It was tiring, but a LOT of fun! We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Tate Modern Museum, a choir performance at Westminster Abbey, and the musical Les Miserables. Les Mis was utterly fantastic and I still can't believe I got to see it.

Not even between platforms 9 and 10! But still cool

Kara and I in her flat in LONDON!!

Band playing at the guard museum...they were playing beatles music

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham palace

So many beautiful parks throughout London!

London eye.

Big Ben

Roy Lichtenstein art at the Tate museum....I did a project on Roy last year!

Windsor Castle

Stooooonehenge

Roman Baths...don't touch the water!

Harrod's :)

Harrod's decorated for christmas!!

Of course

Peter Pan statue!

Me and Kara in front of Queen's Theatre where we saw Les Mis!! (We were in it together in 7th grade)

I did a day trip tour and we went to Bath (to see the Roman baths), Windsor Castle, and Stonehenge. I have always wanted to visit Stonehenge ever since learning about it in sixth grade, so it was really cool. Windsor Castle was probably my favorite spot. I didn't know much about it, so I didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be really interesting. It is where the Queen relaxes on the weekends and entertains guests. All of the rooms had such beautiful decor and I felt honored to be there (even if there were hundreds of other tourists there with me.)

 At all of the different locations there was an audioguide, and I got all of mine in French! So even though I didn't get to speak French with anyone in London, I still got to practice a little listening comprehension. Good times.

Tomorrow starts my weeklong school break, so I'll be travelling to Italy! First I'll be in Venice, then Verona, then Florence, and then Rome. I can't wait!

Well, I hope everyone in the US is doing well! I miss you all!!!!

Au revoir!

P.S. I was at the store the other day and this guy came up to me and asked me about some shower product. This is the second time this has happened to me! I guess I look like an authority on bathroom/shower items. I don't know. But usually I can't really catch what they are saying, so I just respond with "Je suis désolée, mais je ne sais pas" no matter what they say. (It means, "Sorry, I don't know.)